The University of Colorado Boulder is the subject of a federal civil rights investigation into a student's complaint alleging the school was slow to punish a rapist and when it did, levied sanctions that were too light.

The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights opened the investigation last month after receiving a complaint May 16 from CU Boulder student Sarah Gilchriese claiming the school violated Title IX, a federal gender equity law, according to an Education Department official.

"We intend to conduct a prompt investigation of this complaint," wrote Thomas Ciaspusci, supervisory team leader with Office of Civil Rights, in a letter to Gilchriese obtained by The Huffington Post. "If our investigation establishes that there has been a violation of law, we will attempt to negotiate a remedy." The office may also refer the case to the Department of Justice for prosecution or seek to block federal funding for the university.

Gilchriese was sexually assaulted in February by another student, and reported it to school officials in March. Her assailant, according to a sanctioning letter provided to The Huffington Post, was found guilty of "non-consensual sexual intercourse."

The school suspended the assailant for eight months, but Gilchriese said it took four weeks to remove the defendant from campus. During the delay, she said, the assailant approached her several times, despite an order that he have no contact with her.

Christina Gonzales, CU Boulder dean of students, said the university cannot comment on specific cases due to federal privacy laws. Gonzales insisted the school's policies follow federal standards and college officials who enforce Title IX often provide training to administrators at other colleges. "A lot of universities are replicating our process," Gonzales said.

Gilchriese said she was uncomfortable knowing her attacker would be allowed to return to college after the suspension. CU Boulder denied her appeal of the sanctions, Gilchriese said, so she obtained a restraining order through the local court that prevents the assailant from returning to campus while she's enrolled. Without that order, he would've been allowed back at the end of 2013.

"I wanted this guy off campus forever," Gilchriese said. "I don't want him near me, I don't want him around me."

The assailant's punishment also includes a $75 code of conduct fee and a five-page to seven-page paper reflecting on his experience.

"I think it's bullshit," Gilchriese declared. "Basically, I had to do the dirty work that the university couldn't do, and ensure my future safety and mental health by barring him from ever coming back to my university."

CU-Boulder does not allow either party to appeal sanctions, Gonzales said. "We have a review committee made up of other staff that have been trained in these issues, who review all of the findings and if they have questions, concerns, they tell the investigators," she explained.

Punishment for sexual misconduct at CU Boulder can range from a one-semester suspension to expulsion.

Frustrated with CU Boulder's punishment for her assailant, Gilchriese contacted the Take Back the Night organization, which advised her about filing a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights. She said she initially was unaware there was a wave of similar complaints already filed against other colleges.

Gilchriese said she gained strength after she saw a University of Southern California sexual assault victim's blog post, and sent the woman, Tucker Reed, an email seeking advice. Gilchriese last week connected for the first time with other women who have filed complaints against their schools and are organizing a campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence victims' rights in college.

"My hope," Gilchriese said, "is that they change policies so all other victims past and present can be protected and not have to relive their trauma every day."

CU-Boulder has two federal complaints against it, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights has opened one for investigation.

Students at Swarthmore College filed a Title IX civil rights complaint and a Clery Act complaint which alleges the college underreports sexual assaults and fails to respond to properly handle reports of sexual misconduct and harassment.
The college promised to launch a review of their policies, and began announcing reforms in the summer of 2013.

After Angie Epifano wrote a lengthy op-ed about her experience trying to report a sexual assault at Amherst College, the school started an internal review and a revamp of their policies.

The University of North Carolina began looking into their own policies after students and a former administrator filed two complaints with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. The university now has three federal investigations launched by the Education Department, including one into whether the university retaliated against one of the complainants.

Update: The DOJ found the university botched rape reports.
May 12, 2012 report from AP:
MISSOULA, Mont. -- The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into the way Missoula police, prosecutors and the University of Montana have responded to reports of sexual assault and harassment after the agency learned of complaints that cases were not being properly handled.
The investigation was disclosed Tuesday after a preliminary examination conducted earlier this year concluded there was enough evidence to move ahead with a full probe, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said.
Lawyers from the Justice Department's civil rights division will look at all 80 sexual assaults reported by women in Missoula over the past three years. Eleven sexual assaults involving university students have been reported in the past 18 months. Prosecutors were trying to figure out whether those university complaints were included in the total number of citywide assaults reported.

Dec. 17, 2012:
It took nearly a month for Oklahoma State University officials to tell police that a single student had been accused by several others of sexual assault, prompting confusion and outrage over the lengthy delay.
On Thursday, OSU President Burns Hargis announced he asked the Board of Regents' task force to review the school's handling of the sexual assault complaints. The task force was formed in July to review school policies and ensure a situation like the Sandusky scandal at Penn State does not unfold at OSU.
Hargis said in a statement that OSU "cannot leave any doubt that we are indeed properly and appropriately handling sexual misconduct allegations," Tulsa World reports.

University of Notre Dame Under Federal Review After Second Family Complains About Assault Allegations Mishandle
Feb. 19, 2011:
The University of Notre Dame has been placed under federal review by the U.S. Department of Education following two incidents of reported sexual assault that occurred this academic year.

Two years after the Ivy League school went under a federal investigation, students and alumni once again say the university fails to properly handle sexual assaults and harassment.
June 15, 2012 report from Time magazine:
The Department of Education announced on Friday that it had resolved a complaint that Yale University had failed to eliminate sexual discrimination on campus.
The complaint, filed by a group of 16 current and former students in March 2011, stemmed from an incident on campus on the evening of Oct. 13, 2010, in which members of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity marched across the Yale campus to a dorm where many female students lived and chanted “No means yes! Yes means anal!” A video of the chanting men was posted online and quickly went viral, spurring an uproar at the university and nationwide.
Yale was fined $165,000 by the feds.

Oct. 12, 2012 report from HuffPost:
Two students in separate cases were arrested last month on sexual assault charges. However, it raised eyebrows as people noted it took eight months to bring charges in one case while only a few days in the other. In response to the controversy, SMU announced a special task force to review how the school handles reports of sexual violence.
Administrative action aside, problems persist on the Texas campus. On Wednesday, just a day before the first task force meeting, students received a crime alert warning of another sexual assault; this one allegedly targeting a young woman in her apartment west of campus by an acquaintance and fellow SMU student. The incident became the fifth sexual assault reported this year and the third in the past six weeks to go under investigation by University Park police.
At least 40 sexual assaults were reported since 2006, according to the SMU Daily Campus, and almost all of them from SMU students. Over the past 25 years, more than 100 women at SMU reported being sexually assaulted.